NATCHEZ &8212; The criers come in waves, Santa says.

&8220;Some days it&8217;s only one or two, some it&8217;s back to back to back,&8221; he said from his post at the Natchez Mall.

&8220;They&8217;ll run up here and sprint and hit that step and stop. If I move, then they are gone.&8221;

Madolyn Dickey was ready this year. Last year, she cried; this year, she&8217;s bigger.

&8220;We had it all talked out,&8221; mom Kristen Dickey said. &8220;We were going to see Santa. It all fell apart at the end.&8221;

Two-year-old Madolyn was the first in line, waiting for Santa to return from his lunch break. She was relaxed, perhaps a little sleepy, in Grandma&8217;s arms. She&8217;d already asked once where Santa was.

Finally, Santa showed. He took his seat and mom walked Madolyn up the stairs. Then came the screams.

Grandmother Micholyn Barnes took over, holding Madolyn and sitting on Santa&8217;s knee herself &8212; still screaming. They played a quick game of steal Santa&8217;s nose &8212; still screaming.

Experience brings knowledge, and mom and grandma quickly mapped out their plan to get the keepsake photo in Santa&8217;s lap &8212; wait until the picture-taker is ready, drop her in his lap, step back.

Of course the screams only intensified, but they got the picture &8212; open-mouthed, red faced, arms flailing,

&8220;priceless,&8221; they said, and much like last year&8217;s.

Seven-year-old Chelsea Bryan stood in the back of the line while Madolyn cried. It&8217;s typical for the little kids to cry the first time they see Santa, Chelsea said.

She doesn&8217;t remember if she ever cried or not. But she&8217;s not scared now. She knows the facts of Santa and there&8217;s simply nothing to be scared about.

&8220;The elves are at the North Pole &8212; where Santa lives &8212; working because it&8217;s almost Christmas,&8221; she said. &8220;His sack is magic and it shrinks all the toys. He gets them and puts them under the tree and they go back to regular size.&8221;

And Santa comes into the house through the chimney &8212; also requiring some magic, 7-year-old Asia Carradine said.

&8220;He has a big ole book with addresses and names in it and what we want,&8221; Asia said.

Though the mall Santa doesn&8217;t tell the little ones, he isn&8217;t the real Santa. He is, however, Santa&8217;s helper.

&8220;He calls me personally,&8221; he said. And that&8217;s the story the older children hear, especially if they start asking questions.

In the off-season Santa is a 23-year-old student at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. This is the second year he&8217;s been posted at the mall, and he&8217;s learned a few techniques.

&8220;A lot of kids like to see my real hand,&8221; he said. &8220;The main thing is trying not to spook them. The candy usually works.&8221;

So far this year the most common requests are for four-wheelers and motorcycles &8212; even for the girls. Dora the Explorer is big, too.

Santa said his most unusual request was for a log truck, and the most heartfelt one for the return of a brother who&8217;s fighting in Iraq.